


Strange Things In Unfamiliar Places

by CaptainJimothyCarter



Series: Tumblr Prompt Fics [61]
Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Drabble, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Infinity Wars, Peggy wounds up in the future, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Steggy - Freeform, Steve Needs a Hug, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:28:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27911506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainJimothyCarter/pseuds/CaptainJimothyCarter
Summary: Peggy finds herself waking up in a strange place, with strange people around her. The only person she knows refuses to touch her in fear that she's not real.orPeggy finds herself meeting Infinity Wars!Steve and both are reluctant to believe the other is real until Natasha kicks their butt into gear.
Relationships: Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov
Series: Tumblr Prompt Fics [61]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952281
Comments: 2
Kudos: 52





	Strange Things In Unfamiliar Places

“I don’t understand,” Peggy found herself saying for the unkempt time that evening. She stared down at her hands, not able to bring herself to look up at him. 

This isn’t real. This couldn’t be real. This was some dream, some illusion her brain has cocked up from long, overworking hours in a hot and stuffy building because  _ someone  _ had painted the windows shut yet again.

_ And yet,  _ her mind subtle,  _ it has to be.  _

Because she does not remember ever seeing Steve with a full beard nor with hair this long, nor with this look in his eyes that has told her he’s lost everything. He’s nearly as afraid of her as she is of him.

She’s seen him with stubble, weeks of over shaving have caused his beard to come in slower than the rest. She’s seen him with longer hair than what the military rules regulate, but in times of war, rules are bent and forgotten. She’s seen him with a lost look in his eyes when it involved saving innocence from camps and even when it came to losing Barnes, but this? This is something so much worst.

He’s pacing in front of her, still having yet to remove his uniform. It’s grimy, covered in God knows what. He’s bleeding still from a busted lip, a cut above his eyebrow. He’s worst for wear with neglect and from what she can make terms of it, a war had happened. A battle had been fought, people lost to weapons beyond her understanding and  _ stones  _ taking people’s lives and turning them to dust.

He stops to look at her, hearing her words, taking in her appearance. She looks straight from his memory, wearing a cream blouse and red skirt. A heel is broken and the hem of the skirt is covered in dirt and there’s a smudge of it on the tip of her nose, but she’s real. She’s breathing. Every scan done to her proves she’s real. 

Turning back to a man named Bruce, Steve waved his hand again in her direction, something that was getting annoying. “Explain.”

The man gave an exhausted sigh, rubbing a hand over his face. He took his glasses off and massaged his temples. “Steve, I’ve explained it - the-the fact is I can’t understand this!” His fist hit the computer, making them all jump. “The only people who can are -”

“Don’t,” Steve breathed in a tone she had so rarely heard before.  _ Begging. Don’t admit the words that are true. That he knows to be true.  _

“The fact is-”

“You don’t know that!” 

He’d taken a step towards the doctor, his shoulders squared and jawline clenched. She’s seen that look before - how many times had he given that look in the face of battle? How many times had he looked this determined when arguing his point during tactics of war?

Except he wasn’t arguing to save damage done to their men - he was begging for his own salvation.

_ “Steve.”  _

The voice came from a woman Peggy hadn’t seen walked in, a woman with short, cropped blonde hair. The way she held herself told her that she understood the argument between the two, that she was on edge herself, worried for her friend. 

The Captain let out a shuttering breath, fists clenched as he turned to look at her. For a second, he looked like he was about to swing and hit her before his shoulders slacked.

“Go take a breather. Bruce, you too.”

When the men cleared out of the room, Peggy let her shoulders drop and ran a hand over her face. She felt a few flakes of dirt fall from her hair. How had she’d gotten so dirty?

“This is not the reunion I imagined,” she attempted to joke, looking up at the woman.

The blonde’s lips twitched slightly as she got on her level, squatting down to look at her. “I don’t think this is what he imagined either. Steve is…”

“I know,” she sighed, shaking her head. “You don’t have to tell me, I know.”

“Then you know he’ll come around to you once…” She swallowed and looked up at the holograms, watching the faces change. Her eyes reflected the hurt. “Let’s get you cleaned up, hm?”

* * *

Peggy still couldn’t make heads or tails of what the hell had happened. She was sitting behind her desk, late at night when a flash of bright light had taken her. She had no time to react, to shout, to even grab her gun, before she was tumbling head-first and into a pile of mud. She wasn’t alone when she came to her senses, moments later. The woman with blonde hair - known as Natasha - and a man with the clearest blue eyes she’s only remembered in her dreams stared at her.

_ Steve.  _

It had been the first name out of her lips and Steve’s face twisted in pain and horror as he dropped to his knees beside her. His hand ghost over hers, just barely touching her. He wouldn’t  _ look  _ at her, past her, to the woman, trying to determine if this was real or not. She had touched him and he flinched, causing her hand to jerk back.

_ “You’re real.” _

Those should not have been their reunion sentence, the first words out of his lips but they were. They were the most heartbreaking thing she had ever heard and the sound played in a record in her head. 

It’s what brought the first sob from her lips, the water pouring from the showerhead washing away her tears. She was thankful for a hot shower, scrubbing perhaps too hard at her skin to wash away any trace of dirt. She wasn’t sure  _ why  _ she was crying. 

Maybe it was the fact of everything - the horror Steve had been through, the situation she fell  _ in  _ on. Or the overwhelming sense that he’d been alive this whole time. Or just  _ everything.  _ All she knew when she came out of the shower, hair done into an un-elegant knot on the top of her head, she felt no better.

Natasha had left clothes for her to wear. A simple pair of jeans and a blouse, a pair of pajamas were left behind on a bed. She wasn’t even sure where she was staying or whose room this was. Just that she was both exhausted and hungry and wanted to find Steve to give him the comfort he needed, but not wanting to force her place.

A knock at the door distracted her from getting dressed, tying the soft, plush robe tighter around her frame as she went to answer the door. “Oh, Natasha, I’m…” The words stopped on her tongue as she found Steve standing in her doorway.

He’s showered too, given the damp hair hanging in his face. The cuts and bruises looked almost better by a small margin. He had pulled on a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans, his hands full of take out that reminded Peggy just how hungry he was.

“Hi,” he breathed, underneath the beard she could see a flush forming. “I...I brought...dinner. Figured you were hungry. Interdimensional travel, I hear makes you starved.”

“Hi.” He looked so nervous, it reminded her of the little boy from Brooklyn decades ago. “Where did you hear that one?” Peggy quipped, hand closing around the frame of the door. 

“Thor.”

Slowly stepping aside, she waved him in and Steve seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as she closed the door behind them. “I’ll have to meet this Thor, then, if he’s an expert at these travels.”

“You’d like him, he’s...he’s great…” She could see his shoulders sagging as he placed the steaming bag onto the table, gripping the chair hard enough that she could hear the sound of the wood splintering.

There was a little hesitation in her motives, but she forced herself through to take his hands. He turned to her and she wasn’t surprised to find tears in his eyes. She was surprised when he hugged her tightly, face buried in her hair. 

_ Fuck.  _

She couldn’t deny herself this. Her arms tightened around him, pulling his frame closer to hers. His shoulders shook with a gasping sob, Peggy’s arms only tightening to give him the solace he deserved. 

She wasn’t sure how long they stayed in that position or who cried more, but she was reluctant to pull away. His hand held her cheek, gently wiping the tears away.

“You’re beautiful,” he murmured, always sounding in awe when he spoke of her looks. “You-you always were - I mean you have… you just…”

Despite the sniffling and tears on both of their faces, Peggy stood on her toes to press a kiss to his lips, arms moving to wrap around his neck. He picked her up off of her feet to kiss her in return. 

The kiss was not what she imagined, how their reunion should’ve gone, but it was theirs. He gave a weak laugh as he sat her back on her feet, still holding her face in between both his hands now.

“I’m a mess,” she retorted, lips now were swollen from kissing. 

“Beautiful,” he corrected, making her snort and roll her eyes. His lips twitched into a small, sad smile, kissing her temple.

They stayed in silence, time ticking by slowly and too fast for Peggy’s liking. It wasn’t until his watch chimed, making them both jumps did they slowly pull away from one another. Suddenly remembering there was food there, her stomach growled loudly and he gave her a look. 

“You’re starving, you should’ve said something. Come here.”

Dishing out fried rice and orange chicken, Steve sat beside her, using a pair of chopsticks to slowly eat his rice. It wasn’t the reunion dinner she imagined, but it was theirs.

“Did Natasha send you?” She asked after a long minute.

“She talked me into my senses. She-she’s right… we don’t know what the hell is going on, how the hell you came here to be or-or if this will even last…” His voice faltered on that one, her heart clenching. “But I-I should grab it while it lasts.”

“I’m not leaving,” Peggy found herself whispering, Steve smirking at the determination in her tone.

Steve snorted into his bite of rice, choking when she gently hit his chest.  _ “What?  _ Are you going to fight Thanos yourself?”

“Maybe. And get you to shave that damn beard while we’re at it.”

Behind it, she can see the puppy dog pout that he was trying to get her attention with. She ignored it in favor of a bite of her food.

“I like my beard.”

“Mhm, darling.”

“You-I…” Steve found himself suddenly staring down at the rice, poking it around with the chopsticks. “You called me darling.”

Damnit, if he didn’t know how to make her heart flutter. She set her utensils down and turned to look at him, laying a hand on his thigh. “I did because you are my darling. The beard...suits you, it’s just...I am not used to it. The last I saw…”

“I was a scrumpy man in a too-tight uniform, becoming a human ice sculpture at the bottom of the ocean. Got it.” He grunted when she hit his chest again. “It was a joke, Pegs. A lot changed...too much has changed.”

The wariness in his voice spoke all, it tugged on her heart again. Peggy’s eyes softened as she climbed into his lap and cupped his face between both of her hands. His beard was softer than she imagined and this close, she could tell he put an effort to put aftershave on. 

“Then I guess we can only do the right thing and change with it - it’s not like we can go back in time and  _ change  _ things.”

He nuzzled into her touch, leaned so their foreheads touch. A ghost of a smile was on his lips as they kissed. 

“I’ve missed you, Pegs. So much.”

“And I, you, darling.”


End file.
